A little background story on this car. A good friend of mine went to Ikea to purchase some stuff. He said he misjudged the cement parking poles and went around it too close and side swiped his right rear door and quarter panel. He does not plan on bringing the car into a shop to get it repaired so he asked me if I could do anything. I inspected the paint and told him not to get your hopes up, but I will do my best. Well... I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking for me now...

Afterwards I moved on to the damaged area. I took some readings, and I knew I had to damp sand from the get go. Went with the same process as before 2500, and 3000. Compounded, and ended up removing 3 microns along with the majority of the damage.

Nice, I'm sure that guy will be thrilled. So when you remove a few microns of clearcoat by chasing the scratches, can you mask off the rest of the car and spray more clear to get back to full thickness? Or is it more complicated than that.

Nice, I'm sure that guy will be thrilled. So when you remove a few microns of clearcoat by chasing the scratches, can you mask off the rest of the car and spray more clear to get back to full thickness? Or is it more complicated than that.

+1 ^ Interested in seeing your opinion Lemmy, how does that work if more is added, or does it even work? Fantastic result.. Gives true meaning to: 'That'll buff out!' .

Nice, I'm sure that guy will be thrilled. So when you remove a few microns of clearcoat by chasing the scratches, can you mask off the rest of the car and spray more clear to get back to full thickness? Or is it more complicated than that.

Originally Posted by Russianred

+1 ^ Interested in seeing your opinion Lemmy, how does that work if more is added, or does it even work? Fantastic result.. Gives true meaning to: 'That'll buff out!' .

Thanks Chris and Nikita. The clearcoat I was working on is the original clearcoat from the factory. I removed a substantial amount of the original clearcoat to achieve the results you currently see. If any damage were to occur again in the same spot, I cannot perform any polishing work on it because there simply isn't enough clearcoat to safely perform anymore work on it before I go through the paint and burn it.

To address the question, yes, it is possible to just spray a layer of clearcoat onto it, but it's not the proper way. The proper way would be scuffing it with sandpaper to level it then spray a layer of clearcoat onto it like how a body shop would approach it. But when you scuff the original clearcoat to help the new layer of clearcoat to adhere, you are now working on the aftermarket layer of clear for future polishing work, not the original anymore. Therefore, the original clear won't really be replaced but renewed with an aftermarket layer of clear.

This customer found me on Yelp and sent me a message about his newly acquired 2016 Golf R. He wanted to make it look better than when he accepted the car from the dealer. I sent a message back and we talked on the phone a bit to discuss about what can be done/will be done to it to meet his expectations. During our conversation, I got a good feel that he was not your typical car owner who drives from point a to point b. He was a detailing enthusiast as well who also details and takes care of his own cars. Not to mention he has some of the products I use as well and is familiar with the current new products from the auto detailing industry. After our conversation, I had him come in for an estimate so we can further discuss the game plan for his car. When I met Paul in person he asked very specific questions regarding products/processes, but not only that he also wanted to know my opinion about controversial topics within the detailing industry as well. I went over the car with Paul and we settled on the new car prep & protection service which includes wash, decon, clay, polish to swirl free finish, and settled upon a paint sealant instead of a paint coating. Paul dropped off his car on the day of the appointment and off he went anticipating the results of the outcome.

Started off with exhaust tips, and wheels (applied hydro for protection), wash, decon, claybar.

After the decon the true defects revealed itself. One of Paul's concerns were waterspots on the roof. I also found waterspots covering the whole hood as well. I used Carpro Spotless to chemically remove them. Worked really well.

But before polishing the car I did some pre polishing detective work and took some paint readings first. Most of the car was from high 80s-low 100s microns, but some areas were in low 70s and I marked them as a reminder. Mostly both sides of hood, and both top sides of quarter panels above both windows.

Thanks for viewing guys. Appreciate and feedback or questions or comments. Customer was happy with the outcome and complimented it looked better than new.
Total time: 20hrs.
What I learned from this job:
Gloss black wheels hide dirt really well. Need to keep recleaning until absolutely sure it's clean
Gloss black pillars will always be a pain even if you think you got a system down for it
the gloss black accents on the rear hatch, gloss black rear diffuser, and underneath spoiler took longer than expected polishing by hand

Bought this car 4 years ago with my own hard earned money which also took 6 months to find online. Its a sedan 5mt stick shift which is rare and its been running strong with basic maintenance. I still get compliments on it every now and then while cruising San Francisco on a nice day after a wash of course. Feels good that a 20 year old car that's basically a grocery getter can still hold some respect. As expected paintwork was on the softer side and cleaned up really nice after 2 step paint correction process. Protected with ceramic coating for long term protection.

This customer contacted me to prepare his car for sale. Prior contacting me he listed the car online to try to sell it but he said there were absolutely no offers or interest. When I met the customer in person for an inspection/estimate, he said the car was parked outside 24/7 and just wanted the paint to shine again. After some brief conversation, we chose the enhancement package which includes wash, decontaminate, paint cleaner, sealant. As well as a full interior detail to make it look equally as good as the exterior. Primary focus for the interior were the leather seats, and getting rid of the odor with an ozone generator because of cigarettes/smoke smell.

Customer found me online and wanted to know if the original Opti Coat ceramic coating that was applied to the car couple years ago was still intact or not. He drove up to San Francisco from Redwood City so we can take a look at the car together in person. After seeing the car in person and talking to him I can tell he takes great care of his car. Not just low mileage for the age, but the paintwork and body was clean. I explained to him the characteristics of a coating during initial application, the maintenance required in between washes to upkeep it, and to determine if there were any protection left or not. Because it's been a couple of years, some swirls and scratches were accumulated so he wanted to get the paintwork dialed in with paint correction, apply CquartZ ceramic coating, glass coating for exterior glass, and headlight restoration to fix the previous detailer attempt.

Met this older lady in person after our phone call discussing about fixing lots of very deep scratches on multiple panels on her 2012 toyota prius C. She wanted it to look as good as possible to prepare it for sale. After inspecting it in person and explaining to her some different options, we agreed on a 2 step paint correction and touch up on areas that could not be saved by wet sanding.

This customer bought the car brand new after his car was totaled and paid out by insurance. He is a car enthusiast that wanted the best protection for his new car. White is a really hard color to inspect depending on a lot of situations/scenarios. Upon meeting him I could already tell some areas needed some extra attention, which included, the black trims, the B pillars, the headlights and tail lights. The paintwork required a 2 step paint correction along with some light wetsanding for deeper scratches. For protection, we applied a ceramic coating to the glass, trim, paintwork.

Customer was very happy with the end result. This was his first time paying a professional detailer to detail his cars so expectations were high to begin with. He comes back every couple months to refresh the coating so I know he will take good care of it. Thanks for taking the time to view my work.